Best Book in the Food Reference/Technical category, International Association of Culinary Professional.

It is the first to apply the discoveries of food historians to the romantic appeal of food. Here are the accomplishments of civilizations, from prehistory to the present day, to the pleasures of dining – ingredients, preparation and presentation.
• Why did Europeans lose their love of spices by the nineteenth century?
• How did coffee and chocolate change European habits and international commerce?
• What were the origins of sophisticated Arabian food customs?
• How did France’s grand cuisine take over the world?
• When and where did restaurants begin?

"… a fascinating and ambitious look at why we eat what we eat … I couldn’t put it down`" ( Ruth Reichl, editor-in-chief Gourmet magazine)
"Fascinating survey of dietary habits stretching from prehistoric barbecues right up to the `molecular` menu at El Bulli. . . . But its real virtue lies in the big picture. Contributor after contributor links diet to class, colonialism, politics, religion." (New York Times Book Review)

A szerzőről:
Paul Freedman is Chester D. Tripp Professor of History at Yale University and former Chairman of the Department of History there. He is also the author of Images of the Medieval Peasant, which won the 2002 Haskins Medal from the Medieval Academy of America.